I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a flexible rifle and shotgun brush cleaning device and, more particularly, to such a device having an adapter which enables the device to be used with a variety of brush sizes.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Many previously-known gun cleaning rods are made of an elongated rigid rod having a cleaning brush secured to one end. Generally, the brush is a cylindrical brush having radially extending bristles. Alternatively, the rod has an elongated slot through which a cleaning patch is inserted and held. Although such devices can effectively clean the gun barrel, they are quite cumbersome and difficult to store.
Moreover, it is quite common for a gun owner to have more than one gun, each gun having a particular but different diameter barrel. Thus, an appropriately sized brush dimensioned to fit each particular barrel size must be used in order to adequately clean the barrel without scoring or damaging the barrel. For example, a shotgun generally has a barrel with a much larger diameter than a rifle barrel. Thus, a different brush must be used for cleaning each barrel. Therefore, with the above-mentioned previously-known gun cleaners, it is necessary to buy and store two different cleaning devices. In addition, when an absorbent cleaning patch is to be used as well, it is necessary to acquire yet another cleaning device.
One previously-known device that overcomes some of the above-mentioned disadvantages is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 2,559,376 to Schnitger. Schnitger discloses an elongated gun cleaning device constructed of a plurality of axially aligned pieces which can be partially disassembled. Nevertheless, a large portion of the elongated device comprises a rigid rod to which additional pieces can be added. Thus, the device is still quite cumbersome to store and, more importantly, requires reassembly of the gun cleaning device before it can be used to clean a gun barrel. Such assembly is time-consuming and difficult to accomplish.
Another known type of gun barrel cleaning device is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 2,544,847 to Malesky. Malesky discloses a gun cleaning device having an elongated but flexible shaft, a slotted link swively secured to one end of the elongated rod, said link having a slot through which a cleaning patch can be inserted, and an internally threaded coupling swively secured to the opposite end of the rod to which a cleaning brush is attached. In addition, the Malesky device includes a sleeve member entrained between the ends of the flexible shaft but axially slidable along the flexible shaft. The throughbore of the tubular sleeve is sufficiently wide to permit the sleeve member to slide over the slotted link and permit a portion of the sleeve to extend outwardly past the end of the link. The outwardly extending portion of the tubular sleeve has a threaded bore which cooperates with the threaded stem of a second brush member. The second brush member is larger than the brush member secured by the coupling member at the other end of the shaft.
Such a construction, however, is disadvantageous in that the cleaning patch extending through the slotted link must first be removed before the tubular sleeve can be slid over the slotted link in order to secure the brush to it. Therefore, both the stemmed cleaning brush and the cleaning patch are both accessible for use in cleaning only a rifle barrel. Conversely, only the cleaning patch, or alternatively, the cylindrical brush is readily accessible for use when cleaning a shotgun barrel.